Early trends from counting of votes on Tuesday threw up disappointing results for the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections, which appears to be losing heavily in its strongholds of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan although it is expected to form the government with about 290 seats.
With all eyes on the Congress's next step in Rajasthan after Sachin Pilot's fast in Jaipur on Tuesday, AICC in-charge of state Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Wednesday said he agrees with the issue of corruption taken up by Pilot but the manner in which it was raised was not right.
Riding a strong anti-incumbency wave coupled with Narendra Modi factor, BJP on wrested power from Congress decimating it by grabbing a three-fourth majority in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly.
Lakshman Prasad Acharya has been made the governor of Assam with the additional charge of Manipur while Gulab Chand Kataria has replaced Banwarilal Purohit as the governor of Punjab under major gubernatorial appointments, the Rashtrapati Bhavan has announced.
Rai also asserted that the Congress will win the upcoming Assembly elections in all five states.
K Natwar Singh wore many hats as he straddled the worlds of diplomacy, politics and writing but what remained consistent across decades was his sharp-wit and plainspeaking.
'Gehlot made it a Modi versus Gehlot contest. It was for the first time in a northern Indian state where the prime minister had to confront a chief minister.'
The repatriation orders for the two Indian Police Service officers come in the backdrop of a spate of terror incidents in the Jammu region, along the India-Pakistan border.
The Congress on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'redistribution of wealth' remarks targeting the party, saying after facing 'disappointment' in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, the PM has now resorted to 'lies' and 'hate speech' to divert people from the real issues.
Calling former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led party "communal" following its alliance with the BJP, he urged Janata Dal-Secular, to remove the word 'Secular' from its name.
Chandna took to Twitter to vent out his anger. He wrote, 'Honourable chief minister, I have a personal request to you. Free me from this cruel ministerial post and give the charge of all my departments to Kuldeep Ranka ji, because anyway, he is the minister of all the departments. Thank you.'
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) could have performed better in the recently-held Lok Sabha polls and perhaps, too much time was spent in reaching seat-sharing agreements, Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has said.
Congress leader K C Venugopal and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's T R Baalu walked out of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's office, refusing to endorse NDA candidate Birla without being offered the Deputy Speaker's position.
Despite the upbeat statement, the party is expected to reflect on what caused the sharp fall in its numbers. It is expected to win about 240 seats against the 303 it had won in 2019.
'The 2024 election results will lead to much intense targeting of Modi, more intense debates, many more breakdowns in Parliament and many more movements on the streets.' 'The results have hit Modi's standing, and the politics of the Opposition parties will be sharply focused to ensure that Modi doesn't get back his charisma of being 'invincible' with help of State power.' Sheela Bhatt looks at the political situation through the prism of 2024 Lok Sabha election results.
It's time India re-visited its Western alliances for the attitude and approach that the West reserves for the nation when it comes to security cooperation of the kind that they might not have visualised outside of China, India's bug-bear, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
BJP state president Satish Poonia said there was some confusion regarding the Jan Aakrosh Yatra which has been cleared now and the Jan Aakrosh Sabhas (meetings) will take place as per the schedule.
Defending Union minister Nihalchand Meghwal who has been issued a notice by a Jaipur court in a sexual assault case, Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajasthan unit on Thursday said there was no question of his resignation as it was a conspiracy by Congress leaders.
In a big organisational rejig, the BJP named Union minister G Kishan Reddy, Sunil Jakhar and Babulal Marandi as party presidents in Telangana, Punjab and Jharkhand respectively.
The winning momentum is important for the BJP as the crucial state of Karnataka is next headed for assembly polls, expected in May, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram later this year.
As results were declared for assembly elections in four states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana -- here are how some of the prominent candidates fared.
There is little doubt that the prime minister's own charisma exceeds that of his party, but 2024 is proof that no party can ultimately depend on one person to deliver victory all the time, points out R Jagannathan.
He said the then prime minister Manmohan Singh had given a speech in which he had said Muslims have the first right to the country's resources.
The controversy has sparked reactions across states. The famous Mankameshwar temple in Uttar Pradesh has now banned offerings of 'prasad' bought by devotees from outside and said they can offer homemade 'prasad' or fruits.
Close to half of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats are bracing for multi-cornered fight this time, making the contest way more interesting and intense than it was in the 2019 elections.
Amid opposition charges that the Bharatiya Janata Party was out to destroy the Constitution, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that his government revered it and even Babasaheb Ambedkar would not be able to abolish it now.
'Once elected, you have to act like people's representative for the full five years or else people show you your place.'
'Modi is imposing himself as the face of Gujarat to send a message that people should not forget that a Gujarati is prime minister.'
The CPI-M leader was fluent in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bangla, and also Malayalam. He was also well-versed in Hindu mythology, and often used those references in his speeches especially to attack the BJP.
Attacking the Congress government, the BJP claimed there is no rule of law in Rajasthan and the incident has put a question mark on the law and order situation of the state.
Land attachment and auction is being undertaken by banks that are controlled by the RBI, Gehlot said, urging the Centre to waive farmers' loans.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said the accused in the Kanhaiya Lal killing case in Udaipur were 'linked' to the Bharatiya Janata Party and should have been 'hanged by now' but the investigation by the National Investigation Agency was not progressing as it should.
The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday took a veiled dig at the Congress by asking it to safeguard its newly elected Karnataka MLAs from being poached by the Bharatiya Janata Party as was allegedly done by the saffron party in Goa amidst the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Bypolls are due in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
The response was tepid in other parts of the country even as several INDIA bloc parties as well as other non-BJP outfits extended their support to the bandh.
To snatch a state government out of Congress hands is therefore a high-stakes game with national political implications, for it denies the party the essential fuel to run effective election campaigns, notes T N Ninan.
The party has already denied tickets to 14 of the 49 legislators who had won last time.
Electorally, the yatra seems to have paid dividends in the south, but the march does not seem to be helping the Congress in stopping the BJP's surge in the Hindi-heartland states.
Modi's BJP has promised more revdis or freebies for these assembly elections than ever before, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'He has emerged as a formidable leader who cannot be ignored anymore, who cannot be mocked.'
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